Utakata
was a shinobi from Kirigakure and the jinchūriki of the Six-Tailed Slug. The Six-Tails has been captured and sealed by Akatsuki, causing Utakata's death when the beast was extracted. Although the events surrounding his capture and death were not featured in the manga, Utakata was featured in an anime-only arc detailing his capture by Pain. Background Prior to the events of the Six-Tailed Beast arc, Utakata promised himself to never use the Six-Tailed Slug power and trained with his master Harusame, who Utakata claims eventually betrayed him using him only for the tailed beast power. According to a member of Kirigakure's ANBU, his master didn't betray him, but was rather trying to extract the Six-Tails from Utakata. The process didn't go as planned, turning him into the six-tailed slug and resulting in his master's death. After this, Utakata gained a fear of the relationship between master and student, and became a wanderer, constantly fighting off people who were after him, particularly the Hunter-nin sent from Kirigakure to retrieve him. One day, he was attacked again in front of a girl named Hotaru. While defeating his attackers, he was injured. Believing that Utakata had saved her, Hotaru took him to her family's fort for treatment. After he recovered, Hotaru begged him to train her in his ninjutsu, to which he refused, not wanting to become anyone's master. Personality Kishimoto described Utakata as "charming". Utakata is usually depicted with a stoic, emotionless look. Most of the time, the only emotion he shows is anger from his desire not be called , later saying he is not foolish enough to be titled "master". As he floated away in a bubble using his jutsu, he said " I told you not to call me master" which depicts his utter hatred for the word due to past experiences; but only suppressing what he really feels. He also admits to being flustered by Hotaru constant attachment to him, but in the end having deeply care and being always worried about her, putting her first instead of his own safety. Utakata is a loner who shows no emotional attachment, yet has a strong sense of honor, and is determined to repay his debts to others. Tonbee also commented that he lacked "greed". He was also horrified by the forbidden jutsu on Hotaru's back. Appearance thumb|right|Utakata during his time in Kirigakure. Utakata is a tall, thin young man with dark brown, shoulder-length hair with bangs that cover the left side of his face and amber-colored eyes. He wears a long blue kimono with an orange sash belt, sporting a small crest near the back of his neck that appears to be a simplified image of three bubbles. He carries a bamboo jug which is filled with a soap solution. During his time at Kirigakure, Utakata used a typical ninja uniform similar to that of Zabuza Momochi before becoming a missing-nin. He wore his forehead protector on his forhead and used an all gray ninja uniform , including the distinctive gray flak jacket of Kirigakure ninja, with the variation of having a zipper and one pouch on the higher right chest. Abilities Bubble Related Techniques Since Utakata's appearance spans only a few episodes in anime, not much is known about his abilities or the six tails within him.Utakata fights using ninjutsu from the of ninjutsu, using a unique kind of bubble-blowing relic. In the anime, this style of ninjutsu is shown to be very versatile having many variants that can be used for distraction such as creating different substances like a sticky slime and different types of blinding gases. For offense he could make dozens of bubbles filled with a black substance that can trap the enemy and kill them instantly without leaving any trace of them, or make various great explosions. Also for defensive purposes, Utakata can create a giant bubble dome to protect himself or his allies from attacks like an Exploding tag. He can also use the bubble as a means of transportation that can be camouflaged while in the air. Utakata is able to create some bubbles without using his bubble blower as seen when he was in the air and Shiranami's technique pursuits a bird with a message; he popped his floating bubble and another bubble appeared under his feet while using his bubble blower to defend the bird. Jinchūriki Transformations When he lost his temper he could unleash a burst of red Six-tails chakra, similar to that of Naruto's and Killer Bee's. Before unleashing it, his eyes turn golden. Althought he's not one of the four people Danzō Shimura mentioned that can fully control their tailed beast, unlike Naruto and much more like Yugito Nii, Utakata is able to use the power of each level of the Six-Tailed Slug chakra up to the six tails transformation. And despite he promised that he would never use his power again, by using the tailed beast chakra, he's able to stop and absorb a powerful technique such as Fury without any harm. Also it seems that Utakata has a better relation with his tailed beast, as he can ask him to fully release his power to achieve only the goal demanded by Utakata, not attacking other people or destroying everything in the way; returning to Utakata's inside without complaining. Other Skills In battle he was shown to be very fast and evasive, effortlessly dodging and out-maneuvering all of Naruto's attacks and the assaults from Nangō, Akaboshi, Benten, and Chūshin. He is very observant as he noticed that Akaboshi and his group had a change in their chakra flow. He is also knowledgeable in tracking and herbal remedies. He is also shown to have an affinity to water-chakra. Part II Six-Tailed Beast arc Wishing to repay the debt of having his life saved, Utakata agreed to make sure Hotaru and her grandfather's secret jutsu would safely be delivered to her clan's village. Along the way, though, he met Naruto Uzumaki and his team, who had also been assigned to protect Hotaru. Seeing that the Leaf ninja were strong, he felt that he could trust them to guard Hotaru without him, freeing him from his debt. He then left, despite Hotaru's pleas for him to stay, as he noted that he was not foolish enough to want the title of . Later on, he was seen resting under a tree, eventually falling asleep and having a dream regarding his past with Hotaru at the fort, which turned into a nightmare about his own master's betrayal. Shortly after awaking from this nightmare, Utakata spotted a flicker of a shadow, and decided to investigate. He came across a group of bandits, none other than Akaboshi's team, who were talking about the forbidden jutsu. Utakata confronted them and mused about taking the jutsu for himself, if it was so tantalizingly powerful. He then proceeded to fight them, easily besting them and their jutsu, until, however, they cornered him with a barrier, which then exploded with Utakata still inside. When Akaboshi and his group managed to find Hotaru and surrounded her in the forest, Utakata arrived and saved her from the group, who were shocked to see Utakata still alive and unscathed from their jutsu. Utakata fled with Hotaru in a bubble, and they went somewhere nearby, but safe. Utakata was about to leave Hotaru again, but Hotaru, trying to convince him not to leave her alone, partially took off her shirt, showing him something on her back that shocked him. All of a sudden, the Kirigakure ANBU found Utakata and wrapped him up with their Water Release: Water Whip jutsu and began subduing him with their Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder. The captain revealed to Hotaru, who he was holding hostage, that Utakata was in their bingo book, and was wanted for killing his master. Naruto and his team arrived and managed to loosen one of the water whips holding Utakata. Both parties began to fight, but the leader of the Kirigakure ANBU appeared, and discussed the situation with Yamato. Due to Hotaru's insistence to be with Utakata, it was agreed that until she was safe, they wouldn't hunt him, but afterwards, they'd resume tracking Utakata down. Tsurugi, the leader, asked Utakata to return to Kirigakure, saying that the village changed, no longer earning the nickname of Village of the Bloody Mist. Utakata refuses, and says that he'll keep doing as he pleases. After the groups part ways, Hotaru begins hurting from an injury sustained during the earlier altercation. Utakata has Naruto collect medicinal herbs. When Naruto returns, he witnesses what was done to Hotaru's back, where her clan's kinjutsu was put. Utakata voices his absolute disdain for people who selfishly take advantage of people's loyalty, only to treat them as tools. Utakata is shocked to learned that Hotaru actually requested for the jutsu to be sealed in her. After she explained that she wanted her grandfather's dream to restore their clan's glory to come true. When Tonbee voiced his sorrow that by now the clan had probably lost too much strength to ever return to such a status he suggested they end the potential danger of the forbidden jutsu by destroying it. Utakata was surprised that Hotaru's grandfather had created a way to safely remove it from Hotaru's body. When Tonbee insisted that no true master would do such horrific things without a way to undo them, Utakata wondered if the same was true for his master. Once Hotaru was convinced to have the forbidden jutsu removed and destroyed Utakata resolved to find Tsurugi again to learn some answers about his late master. thumb|right|Utakata as he's defeated by [[Pain.]] When unable to find Tsurugi he finds a messenger bird with a note for him. While it is from Hotaru saying she found Shiranami, Utakata is still at unease, feeling something is wrong. He goes to the location Hotaru wrote and finds that Shiranami is actually the leader of the bandits, who trapped Naruto in a sealing jutsu. Utakata then uses his demon chakra to scare the bandits and make them run. Afterwards, he and Naruto track Shiranami back to Hotaru's village, where it is discovered that Shiranami took control of it with his sealing jutsu. Fortunately, Yamato and the others arrive to hold back the villagers while Utakata and Naruto went on to save Hotaru. When they arrive, Shiranami was using Hotaru to gather raw chakra needed to use Fury, and binds the two jinchuriki with his Character Bind Technique. Both however used their tailed beasts chakra to break their bonds and went in for the attack, only for Shiranami, who has control of the kinjutsu, to use Fury. Although injured by Fury, he survived and as Naruto took on Shiranami, Utakata moved to save Hotaru, before the kinjutsu was used a second time. Utakata suppressed the explosion by transforming into his Six-Tailed form. With Shiranami defeated and Hotaru safe, Utakata accepts his role as Hotaru's master, but first must turn himself into the Kiri ANBU-nin. On his way, he discovered a bloodied mask and is confronted by all Six Paths of Pain. Pain attacks Utakata, using the Asura Path to cripple him in a landslide. Before he is captured, he sends myriad of bubbles to Hotaru, who was unaware of his impending fate. Trivia * refers to bubbles on the surface of a liquid. Idiomatically, it also means "transient", "ephemeral". * In the anime, Utakata and the Six-Tails had not been captured by Akatsuki at first, as the sealing statue wasn't shown having 7 of 9 eyes yet. In order to avoid conflict with the manga, at the end of the arc, Utakata has been captured and the Six-Tails extracted, resulting in his previously-unseen death, in a manner similar to the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle. * He has two musical themes that are remixes of Guren's theme. One is the end part of the theme called Guren, and the other is called Reflection. * Kirigakure's Bingo Book states that Utakata is worth a bounty of 50 million ryō. Quotes * (To Naruto) "They think of us... as mere tools. Tools... who don't speak." * "My hate had shut my ears off...But I did hear..." * (Last Words)"Hota...ru... you... must live..." References